Forever Hex
Party Report
Submitted by djgruby (DJ Gruby) on October 10 2015
Written by Cactus/Oxyron/Padua
Forever Hex Report
Three days of not having enough sleep. Three days of washing only in cold water. Three days of being in perspiration. and Is there anything that deserves such a big sacrifice? Yes, it is the 8-bit multiscene party named Forever, which is being held in the town of Trencin in Slovakia, every third weekend of march, every year. Was it worth to come there this year? Definately... YES! And shame on you all who didn't come. During the opening ceremony Wotnau tried to assure us that this was going to be the best Forever ever. And he was damned right. It was the best Forever ever, at least the best one I had the chance to visit.
What you're reading now is not gonna be a usual party report with all the events described in time order hour by hour and minute by minute. I'd rather focus on some very special moments, which have stuck in my memory and made some indelible impression.
Unfortunately, there was no traditional football match between C64 and Atari scenes, so we didn't have a chance to take a revenge on our disgracing loose last year. Even though we were motivated enough to win this time, the weather was really against us. A football field was covered by heaps of snow, and it was really cold as for the beginning of summer-time.
The usual thing about such parties like Forever is the chance to meet sceners from the other countries, to talk about new projects, to get some new concepts or to get knowledge about things we know we could learn from the others. So I did have really nice chats with Orcan and JTR, whom both I'd like to greet from here. Thanks JTR for getting my 4-player to work by bettering my wrong source code and for your interest in the development of my current projects. I had a really nice chat with Orcan during the compos, so I had actually missed them because of talking instead of concentrating on watching and listening to the entries. Well, that's one of the reasons why I do not comment on my feelings about the compo entries, because I hadn't really followed them carefully. The only prooved fact is that the best productions were presented by Atari sceners from Poland. I liked the Orcan's tune much, but that's probably because it was the only one I had been listening to attentively. ;)
A person who definately deserves a separate paragraph in this text is Wotnau. Jason has been one of the party organizers, the master of each ceremony. I do always say this is the right man in the right place, And we all do love your blue teplaky! :) I believe no one other would be able to lead the compos more professionally. The fact is that Wotnau is a person devoted to this party, and he makes this party so specific. The presentation of the party results was performed absolutely professionally, Wotnau made it like a professional reporter by creation of a growing stress and making us to be agog for the upcoming results.
The main target of my visit to this party and the biggest dream of mine (which finally turned out into a pipe dream) was to win a Forever t-shirt. It was so close to become true as I had the only one "demo" entry and the very price could be mine. I only wanted a t-shirt? Was it that much? Cobra and MacArthur have been making their realtime entry on Friday evening, but as it hadn't contained the music made live at the party place, it didn't qualify to the realtime compo, so it was moved to the demo one. My entry was not good enough to compete with their masterpiece, which was loved by the audience, even though there was no amazing music, no outstanding graphics and no impressive demo effects, it deifnately did have a concept, and for some unknown reason a concept demos have been liked so much since a few years. I knew the gilt was off. My dream was dashed to the ground again and then I had already known that I was going to leave the next day without a Forever t-shirt. What do I promise for the next year? I do promise that there will be 100% sure demo entry of mine brought to the party place, and even if it is an ass-kicking impressive production (actually not possible due to the lack of time = my laziness, but if I start today, you never know...), I'll keep the fact of having a demo in secret until I'm 100% sure that my entry is the only one. ;) I need to win, because this is the only way to get the very Forever t-shirt. Maybe at last I'll get it somehow.
The compos were started at 5 pm, I think. What do I have to admit is that would be a perfect time for the compos if it had been announced before and (what's more important) observed!
Some Atari & C64 guys left the party place after the compos and so did I. We went to a local pizzeria to eat something and to drink some beers. It caused missing a few of crazy compos, which were moved to the late hours. When I got back, I've accidentaly taken part in the competition about knowledge about the 8-bit computers, and even more accidentaly I got decidedly undeserved second place, loosing only to Mikey for the Atari scene, whose knowledge on 8-bit computers is surely a few levels above mine. I suppose it happened only because I shouted loudly enough to be considered as the first and only person answering certain questions. :) Run of this compo was organized an interesting way. Wotnau was reading all the following questions from the big-screen and the first person to shout audibly enough was receiving one point for his proper answer. 40 questions were prepared and they referred to many aspects of Atari, Commodore and Spectrum computers. The following compo was a 4-player battle on the big-screen by playing "Tanks 3000". Being heavily drunk I didn't manage to understand the game rules (which in fact were not complicated at all) quickly enough before I got severaly times killed. And I had finally realised what this game was all about, the compo was over and there was a winner, and exactly it was not me (think it was some guy from the Atari scene).
Was there anything I didn't like about this year's Forever party? Yes. Well, nobody's perfect, right? Although there was a clear time table, the schedule was not accurately respected by the organizers. I do agree with moving a presentation to the late hours if there's no audience in the room. But after a five-year's experience, someone should have been able to predict why and when there would be so few people interested in a show. Let me just explain that about 2 and 3 pm most people would rather go outside just to have some lunch. So why not making a two hours long break in the schedule, so the possibility of gathering most visitors together at a certain time would increase? What I'd really love to see on the Forever 7 is the rigorously abided time table. I believe it wouldn't take that much time to prepare. Another example? Wotnau had promised to present the compo results at half past 8 in the Sunday morning. Well, it got started at 9. Someone would say: comparing this little slowing and keeping in mind that much bigger delays did appear in recent years, this 30 minutes late price giving ceremony is no big deal. If you were living in Trencin - no, but if you keep in mind that some 10 hours (or more) of travelling is still ahead - yes, and you wouldn't like to miss the best train connection to get home the optimal way. I also think that organizers should have been well-informed about what happens in the town - if there was a match of the Slovakian first football league, some people wouldn't miss the chance to see it. And when the show is being held at the same time, it's quite possible that not every visitor will be there, even during the competitions. And so it happened. Some Atari guys had not been patient enough and they left the party place tired of waiting for delayed events to get started.
I was a little bit disappointed by the attitude of Polish C64 sceners, because ONLY three of them appeared at the party, inluding me. Personally, I feel such a morbid isolation is absolutely not good for Poland. And as Cobra stated that it was her last Forever party she ever visited, I just hope that this black scenario of me being the only one C64 visitor from Poland in 2006 won't become true.
Okay, let me better stop complaining about all these minor failings, because Forever Hex was really almost a perfect party. I would like to greet all the people I met at a party, especially all of you, with whom I had the chance to have a word or two. Genuinely, a huge thanks have to go the organizing staff: CreaMD, CVM, Ellvis, MikeZT, Wotnau and Xi - you're doing a fabulous party every year, and every year it is better than the last one was. Thank you for coming
I'll finish this report with the usual...
See you again in 2006 in Trencin,
Cactus/Oxyron/Padua.
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